Motherboard Selection for 939

[Waylay00]

Hey guys, this will be my first time build of a PC. I'm using a 3500 Winchester Socket 939. People have told me to go ASUS if you want stability, MSI for Performance, etc. Now really, since I am a first time builder, which board should I go with? I will be OC'ing sooner or later also. I'm just scared about MSI, as I see many people having problems, etc.

 

[ts3433]

The Epox EP-9NDA3+ is supposed to be a very good board--stable and a great overclocker (I've seen 300 FSB with a Winchester 3000+). [[EDIT: rightfully pwned by icepik and myself below]], but the Asus A8V [[and the K8N Neo2 Platinum]] are supposed to be good as well. You can do better price-wise and still get the same quality if you look at offerings from companies other than Asus and Abit.

 

[Waylay00]

Any support for why you wouldn't go MSI?

 

[Icepick]

Go for the MSI if that's the one you want. This is my first build and I have had no problems with it. The MSI K8N NEO2 has more features than the Asus board too.

 

[ts3433]

[[EDIT: I am such an idiot. After actually thinking for once, I remembered the MSI recommendations for >20A on the 12V rail of the PSU. Many of the problems I had mentioned were probably the result of that. You still may want to look into what other forum members have to say, though. {EDIT 2: Also, needless to say, make sure you have a sufficient PSU before buying the board, for both your computing benefit and my sanity so I don't do this again.}]]

 

[Icepick]

Many people have reported problems with the MSI board because MANY people have them. Naturally there will seem to be a higher percentage of posts for a popular board like this because there is a higher percentage of forum members using it. And for good reason too. This is the board recommended by Anandtech in just about every one of their system build guides. Just scroll through the last few pages of the Motherboards forum on this site and you'll see plenty of posts regarding issues about the Asus board too - because it's one of the most popular ones.

What it comes down to is, buy the board that has the features you want. Of the two choices you posted in the first post I'd choose the MSI over the Asus.

 

[Waylay00]

Ahh thanks ts3433 and icepik. Great observations. I guess I'm too stupid to make those myself . Thanks.

 

[jkresh]

go with an asus nforce4 board, msi has the overclockability/performance lead because they had nforce3 ultra while asus was using via, now that they both have boards out (or at least will soon) based on the same chipset the performance difference is all but gone. Asus may not be quite as good as they used to be but MSI is still inferior in terms of quality control and support.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: jkresh
go with an asus nforce4 board, msi has the overclockability/performance lead because they had nforce3 ultra while asus was using via, now that they both have boards out (or at least will soon) based on the same chipset the performance difference is all but gone. Asus may not be quite as good as they used to be but MSI is still inferior in terms of quality control and support.

I agree I've had the A8N-SLI running for a week and 1/2 and I am still in shock!! The stability, performance and features of this board are amazing. I've always been an ASUS fan, but they hit one out of the park with this one.

SLI
Max FSB 291
Ram voltage adj to 3.0 volts
Seperate (locked) bus for PCI-E
FSB adjustment from within windows (no reboot)
Auto VGA overclocking (PEGLINK)
Hardware Firewall (Active Armor)
Dual Gb Lan
Supports 8 sata and 4 ata drives
10 native USB 2.0
Whats not to love about this board!


I'm currently running a winchester 3200+ @ 265 x 9.5 = 2518mhz
I can run everything except Prime95 @ 2601mhz (I've read that Prime95 doesn't play well with winchesters)

I only have one 6600gt at this time. But I have already seen guys with two high end graphics cards posting 3dmark05 scores over 10,000

 

[Waylay00]

No nforce 4 please. Can't afford to fork out more cash on a videocard

 

[Waylay00]

any more suggestions whether or not to go MSI or ASUS?

 

[ts3433]

I would probably choose the MSI out of the two if only for the NF3, and it's supposed to be a good OCer--but the Epox I mentioned earlier is still viable as well, and carries a pricetag slightly less than that of the Asus and MSI options (theres also a slightly less feature-rich version ending in "J" instead of "+" that retails for even less than that). Ironically, the new Chaintech VNF4-Ultra (single PCIe x16, NF4 Ultra chipset) is even less than the Epox ("+" suffix).

Newegg prices (these include shipping):
Epox EP-9NDA3J: $102
Epox EP-9NDA3+: $129
Asus A8V Deluxe: $134
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum: $150
Chaintech VNF4/Ultra: $124

 

[Waylay00]

True... Well I don't have to have the mobo yet. I can wait a couple weeks after the holidays till I buy. Buy then, prices may be a whole different story.

 

[11427]

I have both ASUS boards and MSI boards,.... I like the ASUS better for OCing (just because if I go too far on an OC, the ASUS will go to default settings when powered down, with my MSI I have to open the case and mess with a jumper to get back) These are both NFII boards so I can't really say about the 939's. In general I'd recommend either, both make good products. I was also going to say something about the high volume of boards produced will natually have reports of more problems, etc. etc. but icepik beat me to it ;-)

 

[rocketman14]

go for soltek.....its good for a first time builder but you may have a problem oc-ing past 250

 

[Waylay00]

Hmmm I'm torn bewteen the MSI Neo2, EpoX, ASUS A8V Del., or Soltek (virtually every 939 board)

 

[integspec]

Have been running a MSI Neo2 K8N Plat for some time. It's a fantastic board and no complains.

As suggested by many you can't go wrong with either MSI or ASUS.

Cheers.